Hostname and Other Network Settings

About this task

On a Management Appliance,
neither the DNS search suffixes, nor the Accept
authentication from downstream ISA/TMG servers options are
available.

Use the Configuration > Network > Hostname page to set your appliance’s hostname and to configure various network
deployment options. Different optional settings are appropriate, depending on your network
environment, and the appliance deployment you implemented during setup.

Procedure

To set the hostname, type in the fully qualified hostname that you want to use
for your appliance in the Fully-qualified domain name field, and
click Apply.

The following limitations are enforced via entry validation:

The hostname must not exceed 15 characters (required for Active Directory).

The entire fully qualified domain name must not exceed 64 characters (required for
certificate generation in the administrative web interface).

Note

This field is disabled on the Management Appliance after the first Web Appliance joins it, and on the first joined Web Appliance. Changing FQDNs of either appliance after a
join would break the connection between them.

Changing the hostname will trigger the generation of a new administrative web interface
certificate, which you should install. The generation of the new certificate may take as
long as a minute or two. The Hostname page will then reload,
using the old URL, so your browser will display a certificate mismatch error if the
hostname in the URL does not match the hostname in the administrative web interface
certificate. If this occurs, choose to proceed with the mismatched certificate.

After changing the hostname, it is advised that you log out to avoid potential
problems.

To set the search domain, type in your organization’s search domain in the
DNS search suffix text box, and click
Apply.

This is typically your organization’s domain, which enables browsers to complete the
domain name if a user types only a machine name in the address field.

To set the outgoing mail server, type the fully qualified domain name of your
organization’s outgoing SMTP mail server in the Outgoing SMTP mail
server field, and click Apply.

This is required if your organization’s firewall will not permit the appliance to send
email, such as alert notifications or reports.

Important

Setting the outgoing SMTP mail server is essential if you want to
receive emailed alerts or reports, or if you want the Sophos Managed Appliance Service. If you do not want
these features or this service, do not configure the Outgoing SMTP mail
server, and be sure to turn Sophos Technical Support alerts off on the Configuration > System > Alerts page.